Summary
TLDR: Ethereum’s layer-2 upgrade reduced gas fees, leading to increased funding announcements for layer-2 infrastructure startups like Espresso, Morph, and TEN. Derivatives exchanges like Rails and Kemet also received funding. Other notable fundraises include Succinct, MANTRA, and Sonarverse. Limited partners at a16z can now invest in crypto through a new fund called Multiplexer.
Key Points
1. Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem has seen a surge in funding announcements following the successful Dencun upgrade, which reduced gas fees on many layer-2s to a couple of cents.
2. Espresso, a layer-2 infrastructure startup, secured $28 million in Series B funding led by a16z crypto, with participation from various layer-2-related firms such as Polygon, StarkWare, and Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs.
3. Two other layer-2s, Morph and TEN, also announced significant raises, with Morph raising $20 million in seed funding led by Dragonfly, and the developer behind TEN raising $9 million led by R3.